What’s the future of the U.S. Soccer program look like? New U.S. under-23 head coach Caleb Porter has given us a pretty good glance with the 31 players that he and under-20 coach Claudio Reyna will bring together in Germany from Nov. 7-16.
More could be added after MLS playoff games this week. But here’s what they have already: Clubs represented from seven different countries. Twelve players from Germany, including six who list hometowns in Germany. Eight from MLS. Nine with U.S. Soccer Development Academy pedigrees. Twenty-two players with some experience at the u-20 or u-17 level.
The group includes three players with immediate Washington-area ties: D.C. United rookie defenders Perry Kitchen and Ethan White, as well as Silver Spring native Joseph Gyau, who plays for Hoffenheim in Germany.
The roster does not list D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid, which points to his likely inclusion in the full U.S. roster that will be announced on Thursday for games against France on Nov. 11 and Slovenia on Nov. 15. Hamid remains the presumed starter for the under-23/Summer Olympic team next summer, and in its u-23 announcement, U.S. Soccer explained explicitly that “several players who are age-eligible for the 2012 Olympics will continue to participate with the full team for the friendlies against France and Slovenia. There are no schedule conflicts between the U-23 team and the full team for either the Olympic Qualifying Tournament or the 2012 Olympic Games.”
Here’s the full roster.
GOALKEEPERS (4) : David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes; Pleasanton, Calif.), Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town; Athens, Ga.), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire, Lilburn, Ga.), Jon Kempin (Sporting KC; Leawood, Kan.)
DEFENDERS (9) : Gale Agbossoumonde (Eintracht Frankfurt; Syracuse, N.Y.), Anthony Brooks (Hertha Berlin; Berlin, Germany), Sean Cunningham (Molde; Troy, Mich.), Royal-Dominique Fennell (Stuttgarter Kickers; Göppingen, Germany), Greg Garza (Out of Contract; Grapevine, Texas), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United; Indianapolis, Ind.), Will Packwood (Birmingham City; Concord, Mass.), Zarek Valentin (Chivas USA; Lancaster, Pa.), Ethan White (D.C. United; Kensington, Md.)
MIDFIELDERS (9) : Joe Corona (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Mixx Diskerud (Stabæk; Oslo, Norway), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew; Montville, N.J.), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz; Richardson, Texas), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United; San Francisco, Calif.), Tyrone McCargo (Nürnberg; Nürnberg, Germany), Charles Renken (Hoffenheim; Edwardsville, Ill.), Caleb Stanko (Freiburg: Holly, Mich.), Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)
FORWARDS (9) : Terrence Boyd (Hertha Berlin; Berlin, Germany), Conor Doyle (Derby County; McKinney, Texas), Josh Gatt (Molde; Plymouth, Mich.), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim; Silver Springs, Md.), Jerome Kiesewetter (Hertha Berlin; Berlin, Germany), Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps; El Paso, Texas), Tony Taylor (Atlético Clube de Portugal; Jacksonville, Fla.), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich; Irvine, Calif.), Andrew Wooten (Kaiserslautern; Worms, Germany)
